Toseland On The Mend

By Gordon Ritchie | 3/12/2010 11:08 AM

James Toseland broke his hand in what was a torrid period of testing and racing at Phillip Island last month, but he confirmed he was well on the mend before heading to Rome to help open the Motodays bike exhibition and fair.The Brit ended up crashing out of the first of two races, then finishing 10th in the second race. Not the start to the season he was hoping for.On his way he spoke about technical issues, which he hopes will be greatly improved in Portimao."The team had a meeting last week and the good thing was that we knew after testing in Australia what direction we needed to go in before the we started the race weekend," Toseland said. "Unfortunately, it was something we couldn't cure at the racetrack - it is more of a dyno issue. The boys have been working hard and we have had some free weekends, so hopefully we can solve it. The package of the bike is not too far away at all. It is just the new engine character combined with the electronics and traction control. And once we get everything working together I am sure it will be a package to be up there. As we saw that when we had a lot of grip in qualifying, and didn't have to rely on the traction control so much, we were on the front two rows. It was just frustrating in Australia because I did not go well round there and I had a broken hand. But for half the second race we were in the front group. The potential is there to get to the front and we have to work hard and make sure we don't give the rest of the guys any more of a head start. Portimao is completely different to Australia so hopefully we can just improve the bike to suit."